historical fiction

The Queen Who Came in from the Cold

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The Queen Who Came in from the Cold: Her Majesty the Queen Investigates by S. J. Bennett

This book is the fifth mystery in one of my favorite series, featuring Queen Elizabeth II and her assistant private secretaries. This one is set in 1961, as Buckingham Palace is preparing for a state visit from the Kennedys. Before that, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and their staff are going to Italy. I especially enjoyed the scenes set on the royal train and the royal yacht, HMY Britannia. A number of years ago I got to tour Britannia, now a floating museum in Edinburgh, and it was lovely to picture the family quarters while reading this mystery.

On the train, Sandra Pole, a temporary lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, says that she saw a body flung into a pond from the train, but no one else saw anything, and is she a reliable witness? It may have been too dark for her to see much, at any rate. The Queen, along with her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, has some experience in solving crimes without taking any of the credit. Joan, a former codebreaker at Bletchley Park, does some investigating. A missing photographer, possibly connected to Princess Margaret’s new husband, could be the victim. But where to search? The Queen interviews a clergyman with a passion for trains and railways who has some useful information.

The Space Race and the Cold War come into play, as a possible defector was in contact with the missing photographer, and the Britannia may be involved. Scenes in Rome and Venice add to the story, and the pace and danger intensifies. While Joan is a fine sleuth, Queen Elizabeth is the star here, and it’s great fun to see her in the 1961 setting, and also while trying to keep secrets from Prince Philip, who is very supportive. We don’t see much of the Queen’s corgis here, but there is a very naughty chihuahua on board the train, and the Queen Mother makes an appearance. The previous book, A Death in Diamonds, is set in 1957, while the first three, beginning with The Windsor Knot, are set in 2016 and 2017.

Brenda

Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure

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Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen

Ellie Endicott is surprised at breakfast one morning in 1938 when her husband Lionel tells her of his plans to get a divorce and marry a younger woman named Michelle. Also, he wants the house that Ellie has furnished and decorated over many years. Ellie can, perhaps, have a small cottage by the train station instead. After decades in Surrey, southwest of London, Ellie has had enough. Her household help, Mavis, and older, outspoken Dora encourage her to make a fresh start.

They all end up in Lionel’s Bentley, heading for the south of France. They wind up in St. Benet, a small fishing village, along with scared and pregnant Yvette. Ellie speaks excellent French, and Dora speaks enough, while Mavis is willing to learn. They find rooms in a guesthouse just getting ready to close for the season, and get to know the villagers. Then the war begins, and Lionel and their grown sons encourage Ellie to come home again.

The village and the scenery are beautifully described, along with the larger hillside house Ellie decides to rent and restore, with help from the villagers. As the war progresses, they acquire a pair of goats, chickens, and a beehive. Ellie learns to drive a speed boat and occasionally visits a monastery on a nearby island. Dora’s failing health improves and Yvette’s baby arrives. There are no battles in St. Benet, so the plot is mostly about life and food in southern France during the occupation, making do, trading food, and helping the resistance. Also, unexpectedly, finding love. Ellie is resilient and very good company for the reader. Not every villager makes it through the war years, and there is certainly danger and hardship, but Ellie is still happy with her choice to stay in St. Benet. Splendid storytelling with a strong sense of place makes this a good choice for readers of World War II fiction on the homefront.

Brenda

Thus With a Kiss I Die

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Thus With a Kiss I Die by Christina Dodd

Well, that’s not a very cheerful title, is it? Since I thoroughly enjoyed the first Daughter of Montague novel, A Daughter of Fair Verona, I knew the book would be much more entertaining than a quote from Romeo and Juliet would lead the reader to expect. In Christina Dodd’s fictional Verona, Romeo and Juliet are alive, in love, and married with several children. Rosaline, called Rosie, is 20 and helps run the Montague household. While dreaming about handsome Lysander, she has somehow become betrothed to Escalus, the prince of Verona.

Rosie is not at thrilled by her betrothal. But she likes Escalus’s little sister, Isabella, his Nonna Ursula, and his father’s ghost. The ghost of Escalus the Elder is problematic as no one else can see or hear him and he never saw his murderer, who was masked and cloaked. Escalus, nicknamed Cal by his ghostly father, also enjoys spending time with Rosie’s large, chaotic family. When there is unrest in the city, even the prince’s home isn’t safe. On one eventful night Rosie must get home to her mother, then quickly solve two crimes and decide how she really feels about Cal. Of course, both Cal and Rosie are in danger, and deciding who to trust is key.  

This historical novel has witty banter, quirky characters, and is full of adventure, humor, mystery and some romance. The next book, Much Ado About Mistletoe, will be published in late October.   

Brenda

The Harvey Girls

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The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay

I enjoyed this absorbing historical novel set in 1926. Two young women, each with a big secret, train together in Topeka, Kansas, to become Harvey Girls. Billie, the oldest girl in a large hardworking family, is still 15, not 18 as required. She is homesick and a little clumsy, but very kind and charming to the customers at the Harvey House restaurant at the Topeka train station.

Charlotte, six years older, attended Wellesley College before dropping out to marry Simeon. Simeon is a brute, and hits Charlotte. She runs away to be a Harvey Girl, always worried he’ll find her. After training, Billie and Charlotte travel to the Grand Canyon, and are assigned to work as waitresses at the fancy El Tovar Hotel.

Charlotte doesn’t like to get close to the rim of the Grand Canyon while Billie befriends a park ranger and is eager to hike down into the canyon. Both of their secrets eventually cause problems, especially when they both meet men they really like. Charlotte becomes a part-time tour guide and makes a Hopi friend. Billie sends money home and worries about her family. The author has experience working as a waitress, which adds authenticity to Billie’s and Charlotte’s experience as Harvey Girls. A bit dramatic in spots, this is a very appealing read, with an excellent sense of time and place. An epilog fills the reader in on what happened after they left the Grand Canyon. I might need to watch Judy Garland sing “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” again in the 1946 movie “The Harvey Girls”.

Brenda

Six Weeks by the Sea

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Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne

In 1801, Jane Austen, her parents, and sister Cassandra moved from the vicarage at Steventon to the city of Bath. Jane was upset at the news, and later at the loss of her piano. At 25, Jane is not yet a published author. She agrees to the move only after her parents promise a seaside holiday every summer.

This novel tells the story of that first summer by the sea, at Sidmouth. Author Paula Byrne, a biographer, wondered if Jane had ever been in love, as she wrote of it so wittily. In Sidmouth, Byrne introduces two suitors and a young biracial girl to the Austen family. Jane uses her connections to help find a foster home for the little girl, and has hopes of a possible romance between her favorite brother, Captain Frank Austen, and Martha Lloyd, the best friend of Jane and sister Cassie.

The holiday is full of seaside walks, dips in the sea, assemblies, a play, and plenty of tea and cocoa. Jane writes whenever she has time, but doesn’t share her work with anyone outside the family except Martha. The reader knows that Jane Austen never marries, so will not expect a traditional happy ever after. Jane Austen is also featured in a mystery series by Stephanie Barron, is which Jane is an amateur sleuth, and has another potential suitor, but it’s set a few years after this novel. The first book in that series is Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. This was quite an enjoyable read, and is suggested for Anglophiles as well as Janeites.

Brenda

Dear Miss Lake

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Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce

Another Emmy and Bunty book! This is the fourth novel set in wartime London, where journalist Emmy Lake is trying her hardest to help the readers of Woman’s Friend magazine cope until peace arrives. Starting in July 1944, the war in Europe is being won by the Allies, but times are still tough for the soldiers, nurses, and everyone on the homefront.

Emmy and her brother-in-law move the staff of the magazine, along with their spouses and three children to a country estate owned by Bunty’s grandmother. Emmy gets her dream work assignment, as an official war correspondent, and travels to Belgium. Bunty’s sweetheart proposes, a wedding is planned, but Emmy’s husband has to leave England on a secret assignment. Emmy connects with other women who are waiting and waiting for their husbands, sweethearts, or sons to come home. Will the war ever end? And when one of the magazine’s younger staff is overwhelmed by events and leaves without giving a forwarding address, there is plenty to worry about.

This doesn’t sound like a very cheerful read. And yet, this is heartwarming, sad, joyous, and funny in turns. The characters are the stars of this series, from best friends Emmy and Bunty, to their partners, coworkers, and the children in their lives. If you’re up to a few tears, this is an absolutely lovely and charming read for fans of historical fiction set in England. The first book is Dear Mrs. Bird, and the others are Yours Cheerfully and Mrs. Porter Calling.

I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Brenda

Knave of Diamonds

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Knave of Diamonds by Laurie R. King

In 1925, Mary Russell encounters her uncle, Jacob Russell, for the first time in many years, after a Holmes family celebration near Paris. Jake is the family black sheep, and is looking for the Irish Crown Jewels that were stolen from Dublin Castle in 1907. The Jewels are known as the Order of St. Patrick. Jake may or may not have been involved in the theft.

The first mystery novel featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, was published 30 years ago, and there are now 19 novels and a collection of short stories. I’ve read and enjoyed most of them, and thoroughly enjoyed this adventure of Mary and Jake Russell and Sherlock Holmes, bouncing between England and Ireland, somewhat to Mary’s distress, as she does not care for sea crossings. They travel by train, car, donkey cart, and afoot as they trace the people and places connected with the Jewels, including The O’Mahony, and find that they are not alone in their search. Along the way, Mary and Sherlock acquire a housekeeper to replace Mrs. Hudson at their Sussex house. Mary, Sherlock, and Jake take turns narrating the chapters, which makes for entertaining reading. Uncle Jake, the possible jewel thief, is rather nervous to be under the close scrutiny of Sherlock Holmes. Mycroft Holmes also has a brief appearance, but the brothers are not seeing eye to eye here, and Sherlock mysteriously gives Mycroft an address in France to check out. Great fun, and a fairly low stakes mystery. What the reader doesn’t know until very late in the story is what plans Jake has for the Jewels if and when they’re found.

Brenda

The Lost Letters from Martha’s Vineyard

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The Lost Letters from Martha’s Vineyard by Michael Callahan

Another good beach read, this one a dual timeline novel set in 1959 and 2018. Actress Mercy Welles leaves Hollywood after a breakup to spend the summer of 1959 on Martha’s Vineyard. Going by her real name of Edie, she is soon recognized as Mercy, and is asked to star in a new play in an island theater. She also meets a charming oysterman, Ren.

In 2018, Kit O’Neill, a young tv producer in New York City, helps her older sister Claire clear out their late grandmother Nan’s house. In the attic, Kit finds mementos of Mercy Welles, and is stunned to learn of her grandmother’s hidden past. Unwisely, Kit doesn’t immediately share the news with Claire, telling her demanding producer Lucinda instead. Kit travels to Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Martha’s Vineyard to research Mercy’s life, where she also meets an attractive man, historian Seth.

Most of the chapters are told from Mercy’s point-of-view, and are hard to put down, if overly dramatic. Many family secrets are uncovered on Martha’s Vineyard, and there are a few similarities between her summer and the Nancy Drew mysteries she enjoys reading. Island life is appealing and the play sounds promising. A young but acclaimed actress, she is considering her next move when she’s asked to read for a starring role in a new movie based on Wuthering Heights. She and Ren bake apple pie, he teaches her to swim, and she meets the matriarch of one of the island’s first families, and falls in love.

Why did Mercy never share her story with her granddaughters, who she raised after their parents’ early deaths in a car accident? Kit, meanwhile, is trying to reconcile her memories of a very loving but occasionally tough grandmother with what she’s learning of a lovely young starlet. Mercy and the Martha’s Vineyard setting make this an immersive and memorable read, with plenty of romance and adventure.

Brenda

The Eights

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The Eights by Joanna Miller

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel set at Oxford University in 1920 and 1921. The Eights are four women entering St. Hugh’s College at Oxford. They are in the first group of women to matriculate at Oxford. Before 1920, women could study at Oxford but weren’t awarded degrees. World War I has been over for almost two years and women over 30 now get to vote in Great Britain.

Eight is the group’s corridor number. Beatrice is very tall, and her mother is a famous suffragist. Beautiful Dora is still mourning her brother and fiancé and struggles a bit with math. Otto (Ottoline) is brilliant at math, wealthy, the youngest of four sisters and doesn’t get on with her mother at all. Otto smokes, drinks, and likes to bend the rules. Marianne is devoted to her father, a rector, and goes home every other weekend to help out with his church work. She needs to do well on her exams to get a scholarship in English, and hopes to become a teacher.

The male Oxford students are not a very welcoming bunch. They tease and play pranks, though some are charmed by Dora and Otto. The reader is immersed into college life along with the Eights, and Oxford is lovingly described along with the many rules the women must follow and the mediocre food. There are a few flashbacks to their lives during the war. This memorable first novel makes me want to reread Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers, set at Oxford a decade later, or Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. More, please!

Brenda

Eleanor and the Cold War

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Eleanor and the Cold War by Ellen Yardley

Read this mystery to view Washington, D.C. and New York in 1951 through the eyes of Kay Thompson, temporary secretary to Eleanor Roosevelt. Kay is 25 and very pretty, and expects to find an attractive, well-off man to marry rather than have a career. Working for Mrs. Roosevelt is quite the eye-opening experience. While many historical characters are featured, Kay is fictional, as is the mystery, the first in a planned series featuring Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor is 66, and working with the United Nations. Kay is filling in as secretary for her aunt. Atomic scientist Elsa Meyer contacts Eleanor from Sweden, looking for her daughter Susan. Eleanor makes contact and arranges to meet her at Union Station in Washington. Kay and Eleanor instead find her body on the train. Detectives Barlow and O’Malley investigate, but Barlow assumes a Soviet communist is to blame, and doesn’t look further. Kay has reason to think the Russian is innocent, as is the train porter, and helps Eleanor investigate. Young politicians, another scientist, a man investigating Communists, and even young Jacqueline Bouvier, a newspaper photographer, are all involved. New York City, Washington, and Long Island are clearly described, with the historical figures, clothing, meals, drinks, department stores and women’s roles setting the story firmly in the early 1950s.

I look forward to another book in the series, and enjoyed reading about Kay and Eleanor. The author studied Eleanor’s autobiography and her many My Day newspaper columns to bring her character to life. A clever mystery that is perhaps deliberately tricky to figure out, but the characters and immersive setting make for an excellent read.

Brenda